His Mother's Child
by Talktidy
Summary: In the spring of the new year, sickness came to Sarek of Vulcan's world. An AU in which Spock never makes it to Starfleet. When and how, then, does he make the acquaintance of James T Kirk.


**His Mother's Child**

A/N: 'Kay this is an AU and then some, so not sure who might be interested in coming along for the ride. It started life as a doodle – wasn't quite sure where it was going. My ultimate plan is for it to be the prologue of a much larger story. I don't think the title will stick.

Fair warning here – glaciers move faster than I write – and I won't put up the rest until I have the first draft done and have done a rewrite to erase errors, tighten up the structure and let a beta loose on it.

In the spring of the new year, sickness came to Sarek of Vulcan's world.

The sickness left a trail of fear and apprehension in its path that however much his people might endeavour to suppress and conceal was apparent to anyone who choose to see and there were some offworlders without the grace to be blind, offworlders whose sympathies were all the more aroused because the sickness afflicted the youth of his world.

Healers and medical professionals, whether from his world or from other parts of the Federation, were divided on the disquieting notion that the sickness might be a biological weapon, citing as evidence the narrow focus of those afflicted. Whatever the truth of such conjecture, the search for a cure became more urgent as the numbers succumbing to illness mounted and the gravity of the situation manifested itself as deaths started to occur.

Sarek and Amanda, his human wife, might have considered that now was an opportune time for their eighteen year old child to visit Earth and explore his human heritage, except before any such arrangements might be put into place, Vulcan was quarantined, and quarantined with a degree of zeal bearing an unfortunate side effect: there were Vulcans, returning to their world for urgent business with their families, who were denied permission to descend to the surface. Vulcans, who then went on to exhibit interesting medical symptoms of their own. At least one death occurred before disclosing shameful details became an unavoidable necessity and the remainder were then allowed to the surface without further hindrance.

In the absence of removing his child from Vulcan, Sarek considered the alternatives and decided on removing himself from his household to his place of employment. His work put him in proximity to a wide range of people: Vulcans and offworlders. He would not countenance one of them being a vector of infection to his son. It said everything about Amanda's state of mind that she, who loathed being parted from him, helped him pack with quiet efficiency.

At the evening meal, Sarek advised his son of his plan. Spock regarded him gravely and nodded in quiet thought, but said little in response, instead turning his attention to his mother, who was looking pale and pensive, plainly worried beneath a tottering façade of composure, and promptly steered the conversation to talk of other matters. Sarek approved. Neither of them had mentioned to Amanda that T'Pring, Spock's bondmate, was ill.

In the event, Sarek's stay at the embassy was short lived. On the third day, Amanda summoned him home. Spock had contracted the sickness.

Sarek thought his son's human heritage might have spared him, but he arrived home to find that Spock burned with fever. Amanda nursed their son, doing her utmost to keep his temperature down and Sarek's concern for his wife grew, as dark smudges appeared beneath her eyes, but she would not fully surrender her care of Spock to him.

Spock tossed with delirium for five days. On the sixth, the fever broke. Their son surfaced from his delirium, blinking in confusion, when Amanda burst into silent, relieved tears over him and was moved to offer her a reassuring squeeze on her hand. From that point on Spock's recovery gathered momentum and two days later, he was out of bed, although Sarek would not allow him to over extend himself.

Sarek observed the days that unfolded with a grim fortitude. The sickness moved apace through the population of Vulcan's youth and the death toll mounted. The day after Spock's fever broke, Sarek learnt that the fever had claimed T'Pring. He might secretly have agreed with Amanda that selecting T'Pring as a bondmate for Spock had been a mistake, but he would not have wished Spock released in such a fashion. It was said that the distress of T'Pring's parents was so pronounced, they had sequestered themselves away from the sight of others. Sarek had received the news from an elderly cousin of T'Pring's mother.

As the season wore on and deaths began to plateau, T'Pring's demise presented another issue that had to be addressed, one that concerned Spock's future well-being. Vulcan's youth began to recover from the sickness and tentatively resume their lives. Tentatively, for it seemed all of Vulcan held its breath, wondering if the ancient drives confronted by a population tested by pandemic would be incited into action.

Such trepidation was indeed warranted. Twelve days after Spock recovered from the sickness, he burned with an altogether different affliction.

A day after Spock took T'Pring's cousin, T'Mia, to wife, the probable author of the sickness was revealed.

The Romulan Empire launched an attack upon Vulcan colonies, Vulcan trading outposts; a Romulan fleet engaged and bested Vulcan forces in the skies above their own world.

For the first time in an age, Vulcan was at war.

A/N 2: Okay, so this is a Spock never makes it to Starfleet scenario. At least I didn't let T'Pring get her claws into him. Since I cannot conceive of Trek without the Kirk & Spock friendship, then how does their path to finding each other play out?


End file.
